Abstract PO-071: MYC influences metastatic heterogeneity in pancreatic cancer

Tumor heterogeneity - resulting from genetic and epigenetic alterations acquired during tumor progression - is a critical driver of phenotypic diversity in most cancers. A lethal consequence of tumor heterogeneity is the acquisition of metastatic traits by tumor cells, leading to poor clinical outcomes. This remains a major problem in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), which continues to have the worst prognosis of any major cancer type. While most cases of PDAC present with metastatic disease at the time of diagnosis, the patterns and burden of metastasis can vary widely, with some patients exhibiting a limited metastatic burden while others have more extensive spread, which impacts clinical outcomes. However, the biological and functional differences that drive metastatic heterogeneity are poorly understood. Citation Format: Ravikanth Maddipati, Robert J. Norgard, Timour Baslan, Komal S. Rathi, Amy Zhang, Pichai Raman, Max D. Wengyn, Taiji Yamazoe, Jinyang Li, David Balli, Michael LaRiviere, Ian W. Folkert, Ian D. Millstein, Jonathan Bermeo, Erica L. Carpenter, Scott Lowe, Christine Iacobuzio-Donahue, Faiyaz Notta, Ben Z. Stanger. MYC influences metastatic heterogeneity in pancreatic cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Virtual Special Conference on Tumor Heterogeneity: From Single Cells to Clinical Impact; 2020 Sep 17-18. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(21 Suppl):Abstract nr PO-071.